According to California law, no intact animal can be adopted out to the general public unless they are spayed or neutered... And accordingly, any shelter has the LEGAL right under California laws to euthanize a pregnant mom who comes into their facility or a nursing mom with pups... Folks believe that 'puppies will always get adopted - let's just take them into the pound and they'll find a home' (also the basis for their justification as to why their female is not spayed)...
Facts are, our shelter systems were not built out to house the huge amount of incoming animals - nor do we fund the shelter systems to take on these kinds of animals... And raising a litter from birth to 8 weeks is a time-consuming, energy-depleting and expensive undertaking - something the shelters are not equipped to do...
So today on this Thanksgiving Day, let us all give thanks to the employees of Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) who made the commitment to No-Kill in the summer of 2012... By committing themselves to this mindset, you do whatever it takes to save the life of an animal... And in VCAS' case, they immediately alert their rescue partners as to the arrival of a pregnant mom into their facility...
Today, Noelle (now renamed "Molly" by her foster mom) gave birth to eight beautiful little German Pinscher pups... So beyond just these lives, the commitment to No-Kill also saved Molly's life... It is a lot to be thankful for indeed!
People ask me why we work so hard to save the old, sick, preggers, etc. but also another fact of human nature is that everyone does love puppies... Not everyone is really prepared for the amount of extreme effort and expense that goes into a puppy's first year... But there are some folks that will go shop the Internet and buy a puppymill puppy if they cannot adopt one... Or they will buy a puppy out of the back of a person's car in a parking lot...
We, at TLC, believe if we can invest the 8 weeks, the time, the energy and the love into these moms and their pups, we can stem the tide of people buying puppymill puppies shipped into our state from the 11 puppymill states... Where breeding for greed is a profitable business regardless of the horrific health and conditions these dogs live in, breed in and suffer through until they are no longer producing anything profitable.
There are some folks who will come in to adopt a pup, realize how much work it will be and in turn, adopt an older pup or adult, glad to be beyond the puppy chewing and pooping stage... And we in turn, go out and pull another dog from our shelter, saving their life...
Molly did not have her litter in a cold cage where legally she just had to be able to stand up and lay down in (legal puppymill regulations)... Instead, she gave birth this morning in her foster mom's office and willingly laid with her pups, keeping them warm and loving them like a canine mom should be able to...
This is how we SHOULD be conducting ourselves as a humane society... Not killing healthy, adoptable animals, but putting the brakes on the puppymill puppies and the sale of puppymill puppies in pet shops not only here in Ventura County, but around this country... Home grown and loved with TLC...
No-Kill is not a sprint but a marathon with ALL of us doing our part...
Just SAY NO TO PUPPYMILL PUPPIES
Say YES to adopting locally
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